"Thirty seconds, Clay," Howard said in Nolan's comm.

"What about Toby and Grace? We don't have their position yet." Nolan said, racing down a hallway.

"We can't wait," Howard said briskly, urgently. Nolan knew that he wasn't being irrational this time. Colossus was pressing in and succeeding.

Nolan descended the stairs to the first floor and dove for a utility closet.

Two heartbeats passed.

The explosion nearly knocked Nolan to the ground, but he grabbed a collapsing shelf to catch himself.

The noise pierced his ears as glass shattered everywhere and walls crumbled in the distance.

Howard had pulled through this time.

Nolan made a run for it.

He dashed through the grand entrance of the palace, turned down three corridors, and came to a door at the back corner.

He kicked it open and began descending a flight of concrete stairs.

It was hauntingly quiet as he tried to keep his footsteps from echoing through the cold, damp space. The light illuminating the corridor was a constant red; not flashing or blinking, as if it was simply waiting for the storm to pass.

He pushed open the door at the bottom carefully, his heart racing more than it did when he was surrounded by enemy fire.

Before exiting, he shut his eyes tightly, a wave of nausea coming over him.

The quietness.

The red lights.

It reminded him of the cargo ship. The night he'd lost his team...his friends. Where were his friends now?

"Toby? Grace?" He whispered into his mic, trying to hide the desperation he felt in his voice.

"I'm here, Nolan," Grace whispered back. "I got a little close to that missile strike, but I'm okay."

Nolan gave a sigh. "Any word from Toby?"

"No."

"What's your location?"

"East Wing, near the servant's quarters, but I'm heading downstairs now."

"Good. Be careful."

"You got it."

Feeling half relieved, Nolan gritted his teeth and pushed open the door all the way, scanning the area with his rifle.

Nothing.

How could there be nothing?

Egor knew he was here. Knew he was close to the EMP. Howard's missile strike was a good distraction, but Egor was too smart to pull his forces away from the main objective of the military.

He lowered his gun and looked around. He was definitely in some sort of tunnel system.

From Nolan's vantage point, it looked exactly like a subway with multiple exits veering off in different directions.

"Weird," he muttered.

One thing was for sure, however—the EMP wasn't here.

Nolan bit the inside of his cheek. If he wanted to hide a device like that, he'd want it to be at the heart of the fortress so he could defend it from all directions.

He took his chances and jogged down the middle tunnel.

But something wasn't right. The silence became uneasy, as if the atmosphere was forcing itself into quiet.

As Nolan made his way through, shadows blocked the bleary gray light at the end of the tunnel.

A line of Colossus soldiers advanced towards him, bulletproof armor snapping with each march.

"There we go," Nolan muttered, raising his gun to shoot.

"Put it down, Mr. Clay."

The voice came from behind.

Chills ran down Nolan's spine as he turned slowly.

Egor and four soldiers stood at the other end of the tunnel, not even fifteen feet away.

Nolan's stomach seized up.

Toby was being held between two of the soldiers, barely able to stand up.

As they drew closer, he could see that Toby's face was bloodied all over and bruises were already marking his skin.

Nolan felt hands grab him roughly from behind and, although he tried to break free, they forced him to his knees.

"You came so, so close," Egor said, kneeling in front of Nolan, bending his head to look into Nolan's downturned eyes.

Nolan met his gaze fiercely, but didn't speak a word.

Despite his flippant words, Egor's face was that or sheer, uncontained rage and spite. His black eyes glistened with the spark of victory and malice as a cruel smile made its way to his scarred lips. "I thought I'd let you visit your friend before we bury you both,"

Nolan looked past Egor at Toby, who seemed to be struggling to stay conscious.

"Don't sweat it, Toby, you're alright," Nolan said calmly, wincing as the men holding him down tightened their grips.

"I can't tell what's sweat and what's blood anymore," Toby replied with a weak grin.

Egor moved in between them, that same wicked smile twisting his face. "I have won, Nolan Clay."

"No," Nolan said. "Men like you can't do anything but lose. You might set off that EMP, you might rid the world of the technology it depends on, but good men who're stupid enough to try will always come against you. I can promise you that."

Egor sneered and patted Nolan's cheek harshly. "Would you like those to be your dying words?"

"No, I'd actually like them to be "screw you" if that's alright."

Egor raised a finger and touched his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, wait a minute...I forgot. You have one more friend running around my palace, don't you?"

Nolan froze.

Egor pulled out a handgun. "Would you mind telling me where she is?"

Nolan almost laughed. "Really? You know I'd die before I told you."

"I thought so," Egor replied ruefully and nodded to the men holding Toby.

They stepped forward, bringing Toby mere inches from Nolan's face.

Nolan swallowed hard.

Egor placed the gun behind Toby's head.

"I—I'm sorry, Nolan," Toby said, his voice starting to shake.

"Ten seconds, Clay," Egor announced.

"It's okay Toby, it's okay," Nolan said quickly.

Egor pulled back the trigger.

Toby began shaking. "I don't wanna die, Nolan, I—thought I could do it, but I don't think I can."

Nolan's mind flew in a million directions as he stared into Toby's horrified face. His young features were contorted with pain and fear. He could feel his breath panting against his skin.

"Ten...Nine..."

"Don't do this, Egor!" Nolan bellowed.

"Eight..."

"Tell Maddie and James—"

"Seven..."

"You're okay, Toby, you're okay." Nolan breathed, trembling. He couldn't let him die.

"Six..."

"Tell Katie I would've spent my whole life with her," Toby said.

"No," Nolan whispered, emotion overcoming him. "Toby, we'll make it out of this, alright? Listen to me, I swear on my life—"

"We did good, Nolan—"

"Four...three..."

Toby's jaw steeled and his eyes filled with a burst of fiery courage. "You finish this."

Nolan couldn't do it. "Alright!" He shouted. "Grace was at the East Wing, near the servant's quarters."

Egor smiled, relaxing his arm. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Toby closed his eyes and exhaled.

"Too bad I can't leave any survivors this time," Egor lifted his gun again, pressed it against the back of Toby's head and fired.

Nolan screamed and lunged forward, warm blood splattering his face and chest.

Toby's body slumped forward, hitting the concrete with a dull echo.

Nolan's vision blurred with a fury he had never felt before.

He twisted around and grabbed the two men holding him, yanking them to the ground and grabbing their weapons.

He began firing like a madman.

Within seconds, the four remaining soldiers lunged at him, but Nolan's mind wasn't his own. He swung the butt of his gun wide with one arm, using the other gun to shoot them as they fell.

One gave a shot to his leg, but Nolan barely felt it.

His chest was heaving with adrenaline as he looked up to see Egor, standing with the last of the soldiers, his lips in a dangerously thin line.

"How dare you," Nolan said, his voice low and shaking. "You've taken everything from me."

The two soldiers shifted on their feet.

"What do we do, sir?" One asked.

Egor cocked his handgun. "I'll take care of this," he growled.

Nolan's gun was already trained on the two soldiers. He fired twice and both of them dropped.

The only two left were Nolan and Egor.

"Make you move, Clay. I'm going to enjoy this."

Nolan laughed shallowly. "I don't need to prolong a goodbye with you." He fired his gun at Egor's chest.

Egor fell to the ground with a cry of pain, his mask of smug indifference finally replaced with fear. As he scrambled backwards, he let off a wild shot that hit Nolan in the arm.

Nolan ground his jaw and made his way over, pounding his gun on top of Egor's bleeding chest. "You've hurt so many people," Nolan growled. "You've made so many suffer."

"You're just like me," Egor spat, though his words ended in a cough.

"No," Nolan replied softly, raising his gun again. "Unlike you, I don't let anyone suffer."

He pulled the trigger and Egor's body convulsed before going limp.

Nolan watched as the life drained from his eyes. He didn't feel the satisfaction he thought he would from killing the man who'd ruined his life...just sad relief. He searched Egor's pockets and found a security card and some stray bullet shells.

He sat back on his heels and exhaled, wiping blood—Toby's blood—from his face.

He turned and knelt next to Toby's body, rolling him over onto his back.

Toby's eyes stared up at nothingness, blood covering most of his features.

Nolan passed his hand over his eyes and closed them, placing his own gun over Toby's chest and crossing his arms over them.

Tears filled Nolan's eyes. "I'm so sorry," he whispered hoarsely, placing his hands over Toby's. "You did good."

He swallowed hard. This was the part where he would want to give up, seeing the destruction that this impossible mission had caused.

Yet Toby had believed in it enough to die. Nolan figured he'd do the same.

Wiping his arm across his face, he glanced at the body of a Colossus soldier, taking notice of and earpiece dangling from his collar.

He picked up the microphone and wires grimly, wrapping them up and putting them in his pocket.

He turned and gave a salute to Toby's bloody form.

"We'll win this one for you, buddy,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welp...that was a doozy. I cried like...three times, I think. Because I had to keep reading and editing it over and over...hope it was sad for you too? XD

~So, yeah...that's the end of Toby. I'm sorry. Truly. Thoughts?

~What do you think about the chapter?

I feel bad, I really do.

{Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!}